Getting rid of out of control coral

[nitewindes]

I have a hitchiker that is similar to a pulsing xenia but I think it is different. At any rate, this thing is the PITS! I have tried:

pulling it off the rock by hand (too slimey and only briefly damages it (like for a few minutes) then any pieces that fall in the tank come up as new ones.

Cutting it back to the rock with scissors (any pieces not caught sprung up new ones) Within a couple of days it is growing right back.

One of the small rocks it is on I can ditch. But it is growing on my largest piece of live rock in the tank. I could get this rock out of the tank if there were a way to treat it so the stuff wouldn't grow back.

The other rock it is on, I can't take totally out of the tank because it has a really pretty sponge growing on it...

Oh, and BTW, when this stuff comes out of the tank I have to get rid of it PRONTO or it will make me throw up.. REALLY NASTY smelling stuff.. Just a pain all around.

HELP!! Any ideas really appreciated!

Debbie

[don duncan]

its anthelia. Your only choice is to pull the rock. Almost impossible to get rid of

[jestep]

Will kalk paste not work on it?

[Bannerfish]

what about pulling up he base of it with tweezers?

[mFrame]

Dave Pettit's majano wand will probably work on it as well, but yeah, that stuff goes everywhere.

[don duncan]

The problem is if there is even the smallest piece left it will grow back

[All WYSIWYG]

Scrape off as much as you can while using a siphon hose to remove all the bits as they come off, then flip the rock over inside the tank so it can't get any light, it will die off. Long ago I had that stuff, I pulled the rock and used a wire brush to get it all off, then rinsed it off before putting it back in the tank. Just like you said, smells terrible.

[+o0zarkawater]

I'm still in the middle of re-aquascaping and got rid of any rock that had even a trace of GSP/Xenia/Anthellia/Clove on it, just to make sure it doesn't come back with the new clean rockwork. There was a point that I liked the stuff, but now that I want more high-end corals, the junk had to go.

[Timfish]

Hey, look on the bright side, it's easy to keep! If it was my rock I would get a bucket of watwer from the aquarium, take it out, scrup off as much of the offending polyps as possible the use either salt or kalk paste just on the spots that were left. Many sponges that grow voluntarily in systems will tolerate a few minutes our of water but I would keep dipping it in water so the sponges don't start to dry out. You might be able to leave the sponges under water while your doing the scrubbing and pasting maybe? If you have to deal with them in situ make sure you do as much as possible to get everything out and do a big water change, all the stuff floating or around or decomposing will add to the nutrient load of your system.

[+olaggie01]

If you have a fuge and it is only on one piece of LR, then put it down there. It will still filter your water, but won't spread like other pests (aiptaisia, bubble algae). People us xenia as a filter in crypitc fuges all the time, some even use aiptasia as long as it is controlled in the display tank (peps, copperbanded butterfly)